What small mistakes did you make that ruined your mission?

[syfyguy64]

Did you forget a parachute when building a dropship, or flaps on a brand new plane? I'm not talking about major issues, like staging errors, but the small oversights.

For me, it was when I was building a space station, had it mostly finished, so I built a shuttle to move between that one, and an earlier one I built. I had RCS, had plenty of fuel, and fuel lines and all, it was perfect. So I flew it up, and lined up for docking. And, as I thrust forward, I wasn't getting the pull I expected, so I tilted my camera, and realized I didn't have a docking port.

[waterlubber]

Reversing the docking port on my first IP mission

Argh

[Slam_Jones]

Usual list of suspects when something goes wrong for me:

Forgot to attach solar panels.

Forgot to deploy solar panels.

Forgot to attach a battery.

Added RCS, but no MonoProp.

Added MonoProp, but no RCS.

Forgot SAS.

Too much SAS.

The list goes on

[CreatureX]

Batteries and solar panels are the bane of my existance.

[problemecium]

Lately I've forgotten minor things a lot more often than I remember doing in the past, most notably:

- Oxidizer for Vernor engines on nuclear rockets (turns out they need it even if the LV-N doesn't)

- Docking ports on station modules (le derp)

- Enough batteries to keep the ship running through the night (200 units doesn't cut it any more)

- LIGHTS

- Reaction wheels. Either I didn't put on nearly enough and the ship turns like a whale, or I forgot them altogether and the thing is stuck using only the built-in pod or probe torque and thus turns like a retarded whale.

[magnemoe]

Funniest, set control from here on back docking port to dock and refuel before going from Mun to Minmus, forget to switch back before doing the burn, now let mechjeb do the burn while being on this forum, notice I was out of fuel, suborbital and retrograde.

More common using 2.5 meter service bays, they are kraken bait

[mikegarrison]

I just had one of those "build a station" contracts go bad because I put the ship into orbit around Minmus and then realized I forgot to slap an antenna onto it.

[sj176]

My Mun research station doesn't have enough power, but I'm going to add another module with lots of solar panels. I also broke the wheels on landing, but that's not too much of an issue, even though I can't repair them due to lack of engineer experience.

[Hcube]

Forgot to check the crew list again after i had tried the rocket, then reverted to VAB. Bob snuck in the lander of my Apollo-style mission to Duna : that was 4kerbals for 4seats, but only 3 of those could come back. Soooooo bob is currently waiting for a rescue mission inside his lander, in low duna orbit.....

[Windspren]

I misplaced the fuel lines on my 2nd Mun mission, rendering the lander useless. I discovered this halfway down to the surface of the Mun. Thank god for F5.

[AbacusWizard]

My wife, inspired by the post-it notes in the IVA views, has attached the following notes to my computer screen:

ADD LIGHTS, THEN LAUNCH

REFUEL BEFORE UNDOCKING

DON'T FORGET MANEUVERING JETS

ONLY JETTISON EMPTY FUEL TANKS

(That last one was after a conversation that began with "Oh, shoot. That wasn't the 'get rid of the fairings and nosecones' button, that was the 'get rid of the fuel tanks' button. I may need to do this launch over again.")

[Torih]

Always forgetting to deploy the solar panels.

[waterlubber]

Forgetting RCS. Do this all the time. I've done it so much I've learned to dock with engines

[yorshee]

Forgetting to deploy solar panels for my satellites, and forgetting parachutes. KIS/KAS lets me fix these things, though.

[Norcalplanner]

I redocked my LM to the CSM on one of my Apollo test flights, drained the remaining fuel from the ascent tank to top off the CSM tank, then lowered periapsis to eject the LM into the atmosphere to avoid Kessler syndrome. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to transfer the LM crew back to the CSM before undocking. Thank goodness the LM carries 40 units of monoprop. RCS combined with the CSM hightailing it to a quick rendezvous managed to save the crew, but it was close.

[TheMoonRover]

Forgetting RCS. Do this all the time. I've done it so much I've learned to dock with engines

This. I only usually remember RCS & monopropellant if I'm using it for landing, or genuinely need the extra control authority. And of course, there's the old irony of having no power left to deploy the solar panels on probes.

Oh, and lights too.

Edited May 23, 2015 by TheMoonRover
lights

[baggers]

Docking rendez-vous between 2 ships, switch the Kerbals in the first ship, the fuel in the second ship, undock, try to start engine... "No, no, I haven't do that!?"

[Volix]

I play with remote tech and place my atmospheric antenna on the last ascent stage. As soon as I run out of fuel I'll hit the stage button, before deploying the main antenna... This often ends with me spamming the space bar for a while wondering why my engines won't start.

[ToddEth]

I play with remote tech and place my atmospheric antenna on the last ascent stage. As soon as I run out of fuel I'll hit the stage button, before deploying the main antenna... This often ends with me spamming the space bar for a while wondering why my engines won't start.

This every single damn time.

[Goddess Bhavani]

Spacecraft:

Review staging sequence before lunch

Helicopters:

Test all rotor articulation joints before flight

Planes:

Have lunch before takeoff. It's going to be hours before reaching the survey site on the far side of the world...

[SkyRender]

I shall answer in meme form.

Yep.

[Camaron]

I recently made a big multipart ship to knock out several contracts.

First there was a satellite. Had the wrong science part. Fail.

Then there was a Munar Space station that I built as a pod ship that split off into rescue crafts. Didn't wait the ten seconds of stability before breaking off two pod ships for rescues, and didn't get credit for the station. Fail.

At least the rescues went smoothly.

[Xyphos]

I attempted to put Jeb on Duna, except that I forgot that I had put a probe core on the ship earlier and didn't remove it.

it wasn't till after I landed on Duna and attempted to EVA that I realized that I forgot to put Jeb in the pod and he was left back on Kerbin.

[Robotengineer]

Forget to rebalance engine thrust torque.

[ArmchairGravy]

I've forgotten landing gear on a Duna mission, and my current bouts of cursing are being caused by forgetting antennas.